What is the logic behind parking management at WDW?

[mickeyluv'r]

Now, not everyone likes where they are told to park, but, that is the luck of the draw. I've seen people decide that they didn't want to park where the CM told them so they parked in a different row or closer to the tram. I've also seen those same people being escorted out of the parking lot by security.

Funny story...

One time I went to Epcot simply to buy my AP. (Has to be done at a park) I simply wanted to take care of it before checking in at the hotel (used AP discount), and before my extended family arrived.

So DH tried to drop me off near the gate. It was a hot day.

All of a sudden this poor CM on bike comes flying up. She starts yelling at DH and all...because we didn't park with the masses in the back lot where they were parking folks. DH tries to explain, and I walk away.

She's naturally not at all happy with us. We're not allowed to wait near the gate. So DH sees a nearby empty, no Handicapped spot- to wait the ten minutes it will take us-Problem solved, right? No, she's not having it! She's mad she had to ride in the heat, and that we didn't follow protocol. Yada, yada, yada....


I mean, I really don't like to make others unhappy, but this really was much ado over nothing. She was still carrying on, by the time I was already back to the car. It was, to say the least, a bit over-blown.

So now we joke about how we better follow the orders of the parking CM's, or some poor lady on a bike is going to come out on a bike to yell at us.


But er, we didn't get kicked out of WDW.

 

[Bluegrrl]

Parking is crazy there - my mom and I always say that we have the worst parking karma ever.

The two of us can be "bad girls" when it comes to parking - we sometimes end up parking in closer areas, especially later in the day

We were at AK one time and it was around 2pm-ish. The parking people were really nice and basically telling people to park where they wanted to/letting them park far up front. I've had that happen at DHS as well. Usually if it's later in the day, the parking CMs are a bit more lenient. Some can get really hard-core though and insist on parking folks as far away as possible!

When I did the SWW parade, the 501st and the Rebel Legion parked in the CM lot - all we did was tell the parking folks that we were in parade. BUT - we had to move after the parade, and that was kinda difficult.

I have never seen anyone escorted out by security ever. I did get picked up by security once, but that was because I could not, for the life of me, find my car!! UGH! Had to ask him to drive me all around to actually find it. Maybe that's what one person saw? According to the CM, it happens all the time.

 

[artofanimation]

I work alongside parking on a daily basis!! I can answer some of these!

At MK, what lots they use are dependent entirely on 1) the expected crowds for the day, and 2) the time of day. In the mornings, they start with the Heroes lot. When the first lot is all full, they move to Villains, and fill that one up, then back to Heroes. I've also heard of them filling Heroes COMPLETELY on days where we're expected to reach capacity, then moving over and completely filling Villains, then going back to Heroes to fill in the spaces.

I have a lot of respect for the folks in parking! My DBF likes to call it a synchronized dance.

 

[Timmy Boy]

When I used to work in Epcot parking 4 years ago, yes it is true that each time they start a new row, the time gets marked by management, therefore they can tell how fast rows are filling as well as helping guests at the end of the day find their car if they can remember about what time they got there. As for filling lots, it's based on the park projection for the day, and the Epcot lot is tricky because sometimes the lots are used for marathons, so they have to park around them.

Edit: As the poster above me said, it is based on the flow of cars into the lot. If it's a lower projection day, they will be courteous to guests and park them as close as possible by switching the flow of traffic into several lots, because the flow of cars isn't horrendous. When it's Xmas Day/Week when the park closes to capacity, it's much more EFFICIENT for them to just fill one complete lot on one side, instead of stopping the flow of traffic to switch to the other lot, back and forth. Then, they take one (1) traffic switch to the other lot. This pulls in cars faster from the road and auto plaza. It may be inconvenient, but it's better than a car park line stretched to Epcot.